I'm 18 and last January I hurt my back when I landed on it playing soccer. I waited until July to see a doctor about it and it wasn't until late July that I finally got an MRI. The MRI showed that I had a "large" disc protrusion in my lowest lumber and was likely pinching my sciatic nerve, causing a painful, tingly sensation that goes all the way down my left leg and I can strongly feel it in my left calf muscle. Over the summer I exercised ALOT. Running +6 miles, lifting weights and swimming. I actually could do all of the Navy SEALs workouts even with the pain. But over the last few months the pain has gotten worse and I stopped running in the middle of November and putting any stress on my back but the pain still hasn't gone away. Is there anyway that this will go away with out surgery? My life long dream is to be in the Air Force and surgery would greatly diminish my chances and would completely ruin my chances for being a CCT (my preferred job).

AF - I suggest you post on the Back Problems board, as they deal more with lower back trouble, and this board tends toward cervical problems.

When a radiologist calls a protrusion "large", he also means it's serious. Considering what you want to do in life, it would seem to be better to get that disk removed and not spend any more time waiting and hoping. From what you write about how intensely you work out, I wouldn't be surprised if you got yourself pretty close back to full function.